Planet Cheney and the Secret Government

Planet Cheney and the Secret Government

Planet Cheney and the Secret Government

The Nation‘s Chris Hayes calls for a wide-ranging investigation of torture policies similar to the Church Committee of the 1970s.

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

Chris Hayes, the Washington editor of The Nation, discusses Dick Cheney’s continuing defense of torture policies with Rachel Maddow. Hayes explains his vision, explained in this week’s cover story at The Nation, for a wide-ranging investigation of torture policies similar to the Church Committee of the 1970s. Hayes notes that Cheney worked under President Ford at the time of the Church Committee, and he says that for an executive power absolutist like Cheney, the investigation of the executive branch served as a “key trauma.” When he returned to the executive branch, Hayes says, Cheney was determined to reconsolidate power. Hayes also points out that the Obama administration’s attempt to define torture news as a distraction is “not working morally, constitutionally, or practically.”

Sarah Jaffe

Check out more great Nation videos on our YouTube channel.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x